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A30 world news
Diasabra 4 Juni 2022

Pakistan reports 7th polio case of this year amid outbreak

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan has for the past 25
Pakistani health authori- years carried out regular in-
ties on Friday confirmed oculation campaigns in which
the seventh case of po- health workers go door-to-
lio so far this year, saying door to give polio drops to
it was registered in the children. Most of the work-
country’s former Taliban ers are women, as they can
stronghold in the north- get better access to mothers
west, a region bordering and children. The anti-polio
Afghanistan. teams are often escorted by
security forces.
The outbreak, after the first So far this year, the govern-
polio case of 2022 was reg- ment carried out three na-
istered in the same region in tionwide anti-polio drives
April, is a blow to the Islamic — in January, March and in
nation’s efforts to eradicate May. During the March cam-
the disease, which can cause paign, gunmen in northwest-
severe paralysis in children. ern Pakistan shot and killed
All seven cases have been re- a female polio worker as she
ported in North Waziristan, a was returning home after a
district in the Khyber Pakh- day of vaccinations. And in
tunkhwa province where the January, gunmen shot and
government has launched an killed a police officer pro-
investigating into the out- viding security for polio vac-
break. Parents in the region cination workers, also in the
often refuse to get their chil- country’s northwest.
dren inoculated. tion program in recent years. police assigned to protect hold of the Pakistani Taliban Pakistan and Afghanistan
Pakistan’s Health Minister He urged parents to get their them, falsely claiming the until recently, when the mili- are the only countries in the
Abdul Qadir Patel issued a children vaccinated. vaccination campaigns are a tary claimed to have cleared world where polio remains
statement Friday, saying au- Pakistan’s anti-polio cam- Western conspiracy to steril- the region of militants fol- endemic. In 2021, Pakistan
thorities were taking steps to paigns are regularly marked ize children. lowing several widescale op- reported only one case, rais-
protect the gains made by the by violence. Islamic militants North Waziristan, a former erations there. However, at- ing hopes it was close to erad-
government’s polio eradica- often target polio teams and tribal region, was a strong- tacks still persist. icating polio.

U.N. says Yemen’s warring parties agree to

renew truce

support will remain critical didate for the White House. which runs rebel-held areas,
for the continuation and suc- Biden’s initial position said the Houthis decided to
cessful implementation of was provoked by the grue- “respond positively” to the
the truce.” some 2018 killing at the U.N. envoy’s push to renew
The fighting in Yemen erupt- Saudi Consulate in Tur- the truce in order “to alleviate
ed in 2014, when the Houthis key of U.S.-based journal- the suffering” of the Yemeni
descended from their north- ist Jamal Khashoggi, a critic people, and to allow more
ern enclave and took over the of the de facto Saudi ruler, time for the implementation
capital of Sanaa, forcing the Crown Prince Mohammed of all provisions included in
CAIRO (AP) — The Unit- expire later on Thursday. internationally recognized bin Salman. Khashoggi was the original cease-fire agree-
ed Nations said Thursday “The truce represents a sig- government to flee into exile killed by a team of Saudi ment. In recent weeks, com-
that Yemen’s warring par- nificant shift in the trajec- in Saudi Arabia. A Saudi-led agents, including individuals mercial flights have resumed
ties have agreed to renew tory of the war and has been coalition entered the war in who worked for the crown from Sanaa, and fuel ship-
a nationwide truce for an- achieved through respon- early 2015 to try to restore prince’s office. His remains ments have arrived. How-
other two months. The de- sible and courageous deci- the government to power. have not been found. ever, the opening of the roads
velopment offered a glim- sion making by the parties,” The conflict, which eventu- The provisions of the original around Taiz remains a con-
mer of hope for the coun- U.N. Special Envoy for Ye- ally descended into a proxy truce included reopening the tested issue and both sides
try, plagued by eight years men Hans Grundberg said in war between Saudi Ara- roads around the besieged have yet to agree on a frame-
of civil war — though sig- a statement. He said he will bia and Iran, has killed over city of Taiz, establishing two work for lifting the block-
nificant obstacles remain mediate between the warring 150,000 people, including commercial flights a week ade on the key city.Fighting,
to lasting peace. parties to solidify the new over 14,500 civilians, and cre- between Sanaa and Jordan airstrikes and bombardment
truce and to try to eventually ated one of the world’s worst and Egypt, and also allowing have subsided since the truce
The cease-fire between Ye- reach a political settlement to humanitarian crises, pushing 18 vessels carrying fuel into first started in early April, and
men’s internationally recog- end the conflict. millions of Yemenis to the the port of Hodeida. Both the rebels have ceased their
nized government and the President Joe Biden wel- brink of famine. Sanaa and Hodeida are con- cross-border attacks on Saudi
Iran-backed Houthi rebels comed the development and In his statement, Biden also trolled by the Houthi rebels. Arabia and the United Arab
initially came into effect on stressed that ending the war lauded the Saudi government Later Thursday, the Yemeni Emirates, the two pillars of
April 2. And though each side in Yemen has been a priority for what he said reflected government’s presidential the Saudi-led coalition.
at times accused the other of of his administration. “I urge “courageous leadership” in council expressed its sup- The Norwegian Refugee
violating the cease-fire, it was all parties to move expedi- endorsing and implement- port for the U.N. envoy’s ef- Council’s Yemen director,
the first nationwide truce in tiously towards a compre- ing the U.N.-led truce. His forts and reiterated that that Erin Hutchinson, expressed
the past six years of the con- hensive and inclusive peace remarks came as overriding Houthis must be prompted hopes that the cease-fire
flict in the Arab World’s most process. Our diplomacy will U.S. strategic interests in oil to re-open roads around Taiz, would lead to the reopening
impoverished nation. not rest until a permanent and security have recently according to the state-run of roads so that humanitarian
The announcement, which is settlement is in place,” he pushed the administration SABA news agency. aid can reach those in need
the outcome of U.N. efforts, said. U.N. Secretary-General to rethink the arms-length In a statement, Mahdi al- and so that more displaced
came only few hours before Antonio Guterres said that stance that Biden pledged to Mashat, head of the Houthis Yemenis could return to their
the original truce was set to “regional and international take with the Saudis as a can- supreme political council homes.q